Transportation was an applied field located within the intersection of industrial organization, government regulation, and corporate finance. William Zebina Ripley’s teaching portfolio at Harvard also included labor and industrial relations.
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Monographs/Books on Transportation by W. Z. Ripley
Transportation. Chapter from the Final report of the U.S. Industrial Commission (Vol. XIX) and privately issued by the author for the use of his students and others. Washington, D.C., 1902.
Railway Problems, edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1907).
Railroads: Rates and Regulation (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912).
Railroads: Finance & Organization (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915).
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Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5 (Economics of Transportation), etc.
1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1905-06 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1906-07 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett and Walter Wallace McLaren)
1907-08 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
….etc.
1906-07. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)
1907-08. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)
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Course Enrollment
1908-09
Economics 5 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [probably, Edmund Thorton] Miller. — Economics of Transportation.
Total 135: 1 Graduate, 34 Seniors, 57 Juniors, 32 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 6 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 68.
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ECONOMICS 51
Mid-year Examination, 1908-09
- (Counts for three questions.)
The subjoined diagram shows the location and mileage of various places in Ohio and Michigan.
Traffic may move from A to D by several routes: viz.,
over A B D (two routes between B and D, as shown on map), over A B C D, and over A B C E D. Traffic may move from A to E likewise by several routes: viz., A B C E and A B C D E. As shown by the map, there is no direct route from B to E.
Shippers of ice at A on the diagram complain that rates from A to E by all routes are $1 per hundredweight, while the rate from A to D is only eighty cents. Formerly the rates from A to both E and D were the same: viz., $1.25.
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- Was the former equality of rates from A to D and E any fairer than the present situation? If so, explain why.
- Is Springfield injured by the lower rate to D? Explain fully. Does this condition of affairs constitute a violation of the Long and Short Haul clause, as finally construed?
- Is there any remedy to suggest?
- What is the present status of the Gould system of railroads by comparison with other properties?
- What are the objections to issues of short-term notes by railroads? Describe recent conditions.
- What additions to the present Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, have been suggested? State both sides of the argument in each case.
- How do matters stand at present with respect to the powers of the Federal Commissions in securing testimony? Compare with condition in 1900, as described in the Report of the United States Industrial Commission.
- Describe the various sources of information utilized in the preparation of your report; stating what you could and could not find in each of the authorities consulted. For instance, what data are given the Statistics of Railways published by the Interstate Commerce Commission?
- What feature of the Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission which you read seemed to you most noteworthy?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), pp. 35-36.
Image Source: Buster Keaton in “The General” (1926). If you want a mugshot of Professor William Z. Ripley go here.